Vakyapadiya of Bhartrihari
by K. A. Subramania Iyer | 1965 | 391,768 words
The English translation of the Vakyapadiya by Bhartrihari including commentary extracts and notes. The Vakyapadiya is an ancient Sanskrit text dealing with the philosophy of language. Bhartrhari authored this book in three parts and propounds his theory of Sphotavada (sphota-vada) which understands language as consisting of bursts of sounds conveyi...
This book contains Sanskrit text which you should never take for granted as transcription mistakes are always possible. Always confer with the final source and/or manuscript.
Verse 3.7.27
Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation of verse 3.7.27:
प्रतिलोम्यानुलोम्याभ्यां हेतुरर्थस्य साधकः ।
तादर्थ्यमानुलोम्येन हेतुत्वानुगतं तु तत् ॥ २७ ॥pratilomyānulomyābhyāṃ heturarthasya sādhakaḥ |
tādarthyamānulomyena hetutvānugataṃ tu tat || 27 ||27. A cause (hetu) brings about an effect either in favourable or unfavourable circumstances: what is for the purpose of something else works in favourable circumstances. It has the quality of a hetu.
Commentary
The difference between ‘hetu’ and ‘tādarthya’ is now pointed out.
[Read verse 27 above]
[There is a difference between ‘hetu’ and ‘tādarthya’ (what is meant for something else) also. A cause brings about its effect in two ways: either in unfavourable circumstances or in favourable circumstances. If it is in a declining condition, it produces an effect which is also in a declining condition. When water comes into contact with the heat of the sun, it decreases and continues to decrease. When, on the other hand, a cause gets the help of other things, its strength increases and the effect also correspondingly increases. For example, when the seed is strengthened by water and sunshine, it is capable of producing a stronger seedling. What is called ‘tādarthya’ (what is meant for something else) is a cause of the latter type. It is a fully manifested state of causality. The fourth case-affix (dative case) is used in order to express it, as in kuṇḍalāya hiraṇyam = ‘gold for ear-rings’. The word tādarthya is formed by combining tadartha and ya. Tadartha means ‘tasmai idam tadartham’. Here idam stands for the upakāraka, that which is going to help something else, meant for something else and ‘tasmai’ stands for that which is going to be helped. The suffix ‘ya’ which comes after the compound tadartha expresses the manifested state of the relation of causality existing between what ‘tasmai’ and ‘idam’ stand for. As the main purpose of the compound ‘kuṇḍala-hiraṇyam’ is to convey the idea that hiraṇya (gold) is the material cause of kuṇḍala (ear-ring) the meaning of the second part of the compound is more important than that of the first part.]
Now that the difference between kāraka, hetu, lakṣaṇa and tādarthya has been stated, consideration of kāraka is continued.